MODERNISM IN DESIGN

Modernism in Design

Modernism in Design

Modernism in Design: A Revolution in Design

Background As the 1800s came to an end, a group of forward-looking artists, architects and designers broke away from the Victorian constraints and developed a new style that encouraged an interdisciplinary approach fostering a sharing of contemporary thought and ideology until the post-modern period in the 1970s. It was a means for the artists and artisans to express themselves about the world that was quickly becoming increasingly high tech and advanced. The object was to go beyond the status quo and emphasize freedom of expression, progressive concepts and nontraditional methodology (Kipp, 2008, 52-225).

Introduction

Modernism was a revolution which, theoretically at least, put the masses into design. Germany became the meeting place for experimental attempts to unite Art and Technology. Walter Gropius explained that Modernism was an idea not a style. It was based on the notion that quality could be separated from preciousness:

'Quality is potentially available to everyone and does not need to be expensive . . . No longer must the isolated individual work continue to occupy pride of place but rather the creation of the generally valid Type.'

This idea is the exact opposite of the Art Deco designer Ruhlmann's call for design for the elite. Modernism and Modernists were for Progress. Modernists aimed to be popular, communal and egalitarian. But Modernism can also be seen as a threat to local identity as seen in Le Corbusier's development at Chandigarh in India, and in general it had no place for nature. Modernists had a linear scientific approach to design (Bandura, 2006, 63-189). Modernist design can be generally characterised by:

Uncompromisingly 'modern' forms, unlike anything that had been seen before.

Use of new materials.

New ways of thinking about structure, construction and production.

Books on Modernism spread the 'Designer as Hero' myth. Pevsner's Pioneers of the Modern Movement (1936) started this gospel of Modernism by trying to prove that it was the only legitimate style of the 20th century. Modernist texts can be seen as propaganda for Fordist standardization (Kipp, 2008, 52-225). Le Corbusier said 'A great epoch has begun. There exists a new spirit.' Engineers were the heroes of the Modernists and the Modernist vocabulary resounds with echoes from ship and car design.

Separation

One conceptual model in Modernist architecture and design is connected to separation. Elements were separated out according to function. Modernist architecture separates support from enclosure; roof from wall e.g. ...